Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins, Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas and Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes set the agenda for pop songs with a message to empower young women.
Photograph: PR Company Handout

Last week, Ed Sheeran was forced to add the writers of TLC’s No Scrubs to the credits of his Shape of You after the similarities in sound between his song and the 1999 hit were pointed out. But No Scrubs’s significance for now goes much further than the writing credits on 2017’s most omnipresent album. With TLC, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins set the agenda for pop songs with a message to empower young women to resist no good men. Self-esteem and self-worth are the subtext behind their harmonies.

No Scrubs was massive. It was the trio’s most successful single in the UK and was No 1 in the US’s Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, down to its earwormy hook and lyrics that brilliantly call out men with few or no prospects who still think they are worthy of female adoration. It became an anthem of female self-respect, sung by female friends to each other on dancefloors everywhere. It was Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive for the 90s.

If 1994’s Waterfalls remains the group’s biggest single, No Scrubs is arguably their most influential. It discussed mansplaining long before that word existed, and pushed back at everyday sexism and unwanted male attention on the street. Songs with similar themes followed it – from Destiny’s Child’s Bills, Bills, Bills to Missy Elliott’s All N My Grill, both of which came out in 1999. Even now, No Scrubs’s influence can be felt. See Lemonade, Beyoncé’s 2016 album, which includes Hold Up and Sorry, which both dissect scrub-like behaviour and celebrate female self-esteem; and Little Mix, currently the hardest-working girl band in pop, whose Shout Out to My Ex is a very TLC-y revenge song that calls out the bad sex and ill-judged tattoos of a previous boyfriend.

TLC hail from a golden era of girl groups – En Vogue, Eternal, Destiny’s Child, All Saints, SWV and, of course, the Spice Girls. En Vogue and Eternal recalled the immaculate 60s girl groups such as the Supremes. Beyoncé’s Destiny’s Child took the girl-group thing to alpha perfection, and the Spice Girls added a cor-blimey-guvnor British cheekiness. But TLC had their own niche, which still appeals. Atlanta natives Lopes, Thomas and Watkins took over where Salt-N-Pepa left off. They were individuals but felt genuine rather than contrived, unlike Baby, Posh and Sporty. They were the kind of young women you wanted to hang out with, and listening to their music was the next best thing.

By the time No Scrubs came out, TLC were already a big deal. Their 1994 album CrazySexyCool went 11 times platinum by 1999, produced the R&B anthem Waterfalls, and was played on loop in teenage bedrooms everywhere. FanMail, the follow-up that spawned No Scrubs, explored empowerment and female identity. The title was a tribute to their female fanbase, who they addressed directly in songs such as Unpretty. Another major hit, Unpretty was more introspective on female confidence. Bolshy? No – but real and raw, it tackled low self-esteem and issues around body image that still resonate with young women.